Cucumber, Avocado & Tomato Salad

Get Spoon University delivered to you

By adding your email you agree to get updates about Spoon University Healthier

This summer, you’re probably doing something intense–interning at a high-profile company (or two) in a sweet city, backpacking through foreign lands, doing a triathlon–something like that.

But I still think of summer as a time spent largely lounging on couches and beach chairs, each day blending into the next to form a deliciously blurry haze. My summers aren’t exactly like that anymore, but I’ve found the perfect food metaphor to capture the same idea.

This is summer in a salad: It’s got avocados, tomatoes and cucumbers–the ultimate refreshing summer produce–all hanging out together, and the longest part of the recipe is the part where both you and the veggies are literally just sitting around doing nothing. Through a process called “maceration,” the salt- and sugar-coated vegetables end up soaking in their own juices, and the result is a blended liquid mixture of fresh, vibrant flavor. Then, you pour and eat. Minimum effort, maximum reward. You’ve just concocted the ethos of summer in a Ziploc freezer bag.